CELTIC'S business model is set to test the club to the limit as interest rises for star players Gary Hooper and Victor Wanyama.

CELTIC have made it clear over the past few years that their policy is to capture young talent and move them on for big fees.

Yet now, I believe they are facing a real dilemma.

With prize assets such as Gary Hooper and Victor Wanyama courting interest from across Europe, the opportunity is there for more excellent business.

Hooper was signed for just over £2million, yet Celtic can now get five times that. Wanyama cost around £1m and they could get 10 times that for him.

In business terms, it’s perfect for their model. However, at this moment I don’t believe there is any need to sell.

The sale of Ki Sung-Yueng to Swansea at the beginning of the season brought them around a 200 per cent profit on his signing and the banking of the Champions League group-stage money has boosted the coffers.

To be honest Celtic look certain to be cash-rich for a while and fair play to them.

Shrewd work off the park and excellent work on it have seen well over £20m and counting pour into the club this season. With this in mind, there is no need for a sale.

Yet that goes against the model on which they have built their success and that must be making life tricky.

It is the model which has put the club in such a strong position so it would seem crazy to abandon it. Ki was brilliant business. He was a superb young player with bags of talent but the bottom line is he was not playing every week and was expendable.

The South Korean was not an automatic choice for the starting 11 with lads such as Scott Brown, Wanyama, Beram Kayal and Joe Ledley available, so to get £6m was a great piece of work.

If you can get that for a player who is not first choice, that’s fantastic business.

However, Hooper and Wanyama are first picks for the biggest games, so the temptation must be to hold on to them and I feel Celtic should only sell if they receive silly offers which simply cannot be rejected.

Let’s face it, everyone else cranks their prices up in January.

Some of the fees which are being mooted at the moment are just absurd but clubs in trouble are desperate and willing to splash out. So Celtic should be doing the same when it comes to valuations.

If someone wants to pay over the odds to get a Hooper or a Wanyama, fair enough.

But if the price is not right Celtic are in a position where they don’t have to sell and even though it goes against the model they usually stick to they can afford to sit tight until the summer.

Of course it’s a gamble. Players can lose value quickly but I don’t think there is a desperate need for cash at Parkhead right now and that should tip the balance.

Neil Lennon is going to make signings this month but I don’t reckon he needs many.

Israeli Rami Gershon is coming into the club and there may be one other, perhaps two, for key positions the manager feels need strengthening.

He needed cover at centre-back and Gershon will be able to do that.

With Kelvin Wilson missing a couple of important games through suspension and doubts over the future of Thomas Rogne an addition was required.

Neil has also spoken about his wish for a left-sided attacker or winger, so he’ll be looking there.

But no matter what happens the majority of the lads heading to Marbella for the mid-season training camp will be the ones to go into battle for the second half of the campaign.

Much has been said about this break but I have to confess that I’m all in favour. For supporters, it’s a good chance to get a rest from constant financial outgoings.

We all know how much Christmas smacks the pocket and it’s hard for fans to find money to go to football in the first weeks of a New Year.

Helping the punters is something that appeals to me and I think it’s good for them. For players, too, it will help.

I’m sure a large percentage of boys in the SPL have been playing for the last month or so with niggling injuries which will have hampered them but were unable to get rest because squads are tight and managers need them.

To be fair, it has always been like that and players play at 90 per cent fitness for long spells of a campaign with games coming thick and fast.

But now there are a couple of weeks for those guys to refresh and recharge and come back strong and fit for the second half of the campaign.

With that in mind it could help the football in the weeks to come.

Tired players make for tired games so hopefully a shot of freshness will see them fly back into action after the resumption of the season and make it worthwhile for the supporters who keep shelling out.

Clubs could be the only losers. If we return and there is a big freeze on the go, some of them might be four or five weeks without a home game if there are postponements and that’s not ideal for finances.

Ross County lost two games to the weather before the shutdown and another postponement for them would bring the situation into sharp focus but you can’t predict the weather.

That could happen at any time in Scotland over the winter months so you can only work with what you can control and I think the break is a good idea. If it helps fans, helps players and can improve the chances of good football for the rest of the season, I see very few negatives.